Kidney Transplant, Sleep Disorder May Add Up to Trouble

The study of 100 kidney transplant recipients found that 25 percent had moderate to severe sleep apnea, a rate similar to that seen in kidney disease patients on dialysis awaiting a transplant. This means that both types of patients who have the breathing-related sleep disorder should be considered at high risk for serious heart-related complications, the study authors noted.

Transplant recipients with sleep apnea were more than twice as likely as those without the syndrome to be taking three or more anti-hypertensive drugs, but still had higher blood pressure than those without the sleep disorder. Obesity increased a transplant patient's risk of developing sleep apnea.

When the researchers calculated risk scores, they found that kidney disease patients with sleep apnea were twice as likely to suffer heart disease or stroke than those without sleep apnea.

"We propose that sleep apnea is a new risk factor for hypertension and cardiovascular events in kidney-transplanted patients," said Dr. Miklos Zsolt Molnar, of Semmelweis University in Budapest, in a news release from the American Society of Nephrology.